Shanghai spots get hot thanks to word-of-mouth advertising

2017年6月27日更新

Raffles City, a commercial complex directly linked to Shanghai's People's Square metro station, is one of the city's hottest spots right now. So much so that a special walkway has been set up at its first-floor entrance, allowing people to queue more easily.

On a recent weekday evening, several hundred people stood in line at Heytea, a Guangdong-based chain of tea shops. Wait times are often six or seven hours. More than 90% of the customers are in their late teens or early 20s, with women accounting for 70-80% of the total. Customers mostly come in groups of two or three. A cup of tea elsewhere costs about 12 yuan ($1.76), but Heytea charges 20-30 yuan. Still, it sells around 4,000 cups of milk tea a day, generating sales as high as 80,000 yuan.

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